ITC 563 IT Management Issues: Cut Short Salon Case Study Analysis

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments. This case study analyzes Cut Short Salon's operational improvements.

ITC 563 IT MANAGEMENT ISSUES ASSESSMENT
ITEM

Contents
Case Study Analysis and Evaluation...............................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Question 1........................................................................................................................................4
Business Operations.....................................................................................................................4
Recommendation 1......................................................................................................................4
Recommendation 2......................................................................................................................5
Recommendation 3......................................................................................................................5
Question 2........................................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10

Introduction
The operation plan of the business is the main plan of the business to determine the objective of
the company and how the business would be able to achieve it. This plan helps in determining
the physical necessities that would be required by the company to fulfil the current objective.
The business plan is considered as the plan that helps in describing the nature of the business of
the organisation. This is considered as the plan through which the efficiency of the business
achieved and through which the problem that is causing the business to operate its function
smoothly and the problem can be cured (Chatwin & Meng, 2010). In this study, this is seen that
one of the business owners who is having a saloon in the name of CUT SHORT wants to change
the way of doing the operation of so that the problem that exists among them can be tackled and
the operating efficiency is achieved. There is various recommendation that has been brought in
front of the CEO of the company regarding the business plan which is discussed in this report.

Question 1
Business Operations
The company named Cut Short is a hair salon that is providing service to all the customers. This
salon is one of the famous salons in the city and is offering basic hairdressing service to the users
of the customers. This is seen that in the current business situation the company is finding an
opportunity so as to decrease the service time that is wasted and is of no use to the customer and
company. This is seen that company was founded that a minimum of 15 minutes time is lost by
the customer in just waiting (Edelman & Brandi, 2015). Hence for tackling this problem and to
increase the performance of the company to achieve the objective of maximising the efficiency
of the company there are various plans that are introduced by the company. Hence some of the
recommendations on this service that are planned by the company include the following:
Recommendation 1(Introduce effective planning for effective management)
The company is planning to evolve a plan where they have decided to provide the customers
with an online service through which they are able to book an appointment for the haircut. This
is considered as a good plan for the company as they would be able to achieve the efficiency and
would be able to save the time of the customers which is lost at the time of the checking in the
salon. The service that is provided includes that customer would be able to check the time of the
availability of the salon and would also be able to decide about the service type that he/she
desires to have. Also, the customer would be able to decide the employee who will cut the hair of
the customer and the desired time when he would be free. The company has introduced this plan
so that there is no loss of time of the customer at the time of availing the service. Through this
process, the company would also be able to increase the number of customers that they are
serving in a day as this would be managed automatically. Also through this process, the company
would be able to acknowledge the information that is available to them and would be able to
know how many customers that they have in a day and through this, the future strategies can be
made by the company to achieve the objective of maximising the sales.
The website of the company would also feature the information about the services that they are
offering and the picture of the style the customer desires can be obtained. This would help the
customer have a look at the offering of the salon (Tran, 2017). Also, the price of the service that
the customer desires to obtain is cast on the website of the company. This is also seen in this

business plan that the company would be able to sell the products and can also let the product be
booked online. Through this process, the company would be able to increase the turnover of the
products that they are offering. While the customer at the time of entering into the salon and
while booking the online appointment can book the products through the website of the
company. This is seen that company would provide the quick pay option to the customer through
which customer would be able to pay for the product that is offered at the website (Gill &
McShane, 2011). Hence this is seen that as there is a loss of time at the time of physical checking
in and the customer has to wait for around 15 minutes which is maintained through this process.
So this is considered to be a good idea for the business to provide the service to the users and to
increase the efficiency of the company.
Recommendation 2 (Introduce new systems)
As this is seen that the company has decided to provide the service to the users for booking their
appointment on the website of the company. They have also integrated one of the biggest options
to the customers where the customers can check how the hairstyle will look at them. The
technology that is used by the company for this purpose includes augmented reality where the
customer would be able to select his face for this purpose and would be able to apply the
hairstyle that would best suit his face. After this customer has to just confirm the same and the
hairstyle would be selected. Through this process, the customer would be able to achieve the
objective of selecting the hairstyle that they desire to have. This service will cost the customer
more as there would be a more user-friendly option that would be available to the customer. Also
to promote this service customer would be provided with a discount option of 10% where he will
get benefited through this. If this service availed by the customer than they would be provided
with the membership card where the customer would be able to get a discount on the products
for 6 months (Talpau & Vierasu, 2012). These products would include shampoo, conditioners
and styling products. Hence this type of operational plan with the collaboration with the website
of the company would be considered to be helpful for the company and would lead to an increase
in the profitability of the company. This would also help the company to build a brand image
where it would be considered as one of the first brands to provide this type of service online to
the customers.

Recommendation 3 (Introduce and implement effective online web portal)
The company if introduced the method of using the online web portal to the customers for
booking an appointment then there are little negative points that would open its way and affect
other customers. This includes that at the time of providing the online service with the customer
sometimes chooses the time and he does not present at that time due to which the booking slot
get wasted and there is no customer at the salon due to which the productivity gets hampered
(Lee & Bradlow, 2011). This is seen that for reducing this is the type of practice the management
should decide to implement the surcharge or the penalty to the customers. If this type of practice
is every time followed by the customer then he would be removed from the membership card
that is provided to them. Also if this happens then that customer would be provided with the
service after all the other appointments are completed. The managers of the company should
decide that if the appointments are made by the customer that he is given a gentle reminder of the
appointment that has been done by him. This can be done by the process of text message
reminder or through the process of giving a call reminder (Steinhoff, et. Al., 2018). Through this
process, there would be a decrease in the late coming of the customers and would also help in
increasing brand loyalty.

Question 2
The products of personal care are essential for everyday routine and so the personal care industry
is modifying its existing techniques of sale and also adopting new techniques for its productivity.
With the advancement of technology and applications, the salons have adopted many alternatives
in order to consume time which was initially utilized for check-in and further procedure
(Marketing online, 2014).
Bookings are now done online for the service customer wants to prevail and the customer no
more has to stand in queues. Access to salons has been made easy with the use of mobile
applications and other online booking services.
Cut-short Salon can increase its productivity by going for other techniques as well. Two of them
are elaborated as follows:
1. Assured gift cards: This is one of a measure the salon can adapt to increase its profits and overall
income. The salon can offer assured gift cards which the customer may prevail on their next visit.
The customers shall be encouraged to purchase these gift cards for family members and friends.
By this, a new customer shall be chained with the salon and it shall put a positive impact on the
reputation of the salon. Another advantage of a gift card is the payments on the gift cards are
done immediately whether it has prevailed or not. Special offers can also be mentioned in the gift
card along with discounts to attract more customers. The salon can also access applications which
provide personal care services on a commission basis. This will help in wider publicity of the
salon and it will be made accessible to the public at large. The salon can also start referral
programs that will create more clients. The salon can ask existing customers to refer their friends
and family and in return, the existing customer shall be rewarded.
2. Multiple-service packages: It is another way of attracting customers as the needs and demands of
customers shall be met in one single package offering more than one service in a single sitting.
This will encourage customers to select package-based plans which will suit their need. The salon
can also start subscription which will make online bookings easy even at offline hours. Once a
customer is subscribed to the salon service, he can book an appointment anywhere and at any
time. Salon staff shall also be given training on an everyday basis in order to make them aware of
the latest trends in haircuts and styling. Also, clientele can be increased by providing personal
care service for all age including children.

Hence, Cut-short salon has a wide range of programs by which it can increase its productivity
and also meet the expectations of the client. It shall be the first priority of the salon to give its
client the best-personalized experience so that through client reference new customers are
attracted (Online marketing tool ideal for customizing sale materials, 2009). Better training of
the staff shall be done in order to make them acquaint with the salon services and the level of
performance they have to render. Diversity in personal care products shall be there in order to
increase sales.

Conclusion
From the above study, this is seen that the company wants to increase the productivity of the
company and also wants to change the way of booking appointment. There are various ways
through which the productivity and the time lost in booking appointment can be reduced. This is
seen that the company has introduced a website as one of the option to book the appointments for
the customer which is considered as one of the best methods to reduce the time lost during the
booking. This helps in increasing the productivity of the company and also led to an increase in
the turnover of the company. The company should provide various gifts to the customer who use
the online service mode to book the appointment.

References
 Chatwin, C., & Meng, S. (2010). Ontology-Based Shopping Agent for E-
Marketing. International Journal of Intelligent Information Technologies (IJIIT), 6(2),
21-43.
 Edelman, B., & Brandi, W. (2015). Risk, Information, and Incentives in Online Affiliate
Marketing. JMR, Journal of Marketing Research, 52(1), 1-12.
 Gill, R., & McShane, P. (2011). An Emerging Technology Tool for Online Self-
Marketing: Market Yourself with More Than Business Cards. American Dietetic
Association. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 111(9), A_18.
 Lee, T., & Bradlow, E. (2011). Automated Marketing Research Using Online Customer
Reviews. Journal Of Marketing Research, 48(5), 881-894.
 Marketing online. (2014). Dental Abstracts, 59(2), 65-66.
 Online marketing tool ideal for customizing sale materials. (2009). Ophthalmology
Times, 34(22), 42.
 Steinhoff, L. V., Arli, D., Weaven, S., & Kozlenkova, I. (2018). Online relationship
marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 1-25.
 Talpau, A., & Vierasu, T. (2012). ONLINE MARKETING STRATEGIES - UK AND
ROMANIA. Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov. Economic Sciences. Series
V, 5(2), 31-34.
 Tran, T. (2017). Personalized ads on Facebook: An effective marketing tool for online
marketers. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 39, 230-242.